On the high bank of the Oka, where the fortress of ancient Murom once stood, rises the Annunciation Cathedral — the heart of a male monastery founded by Ivan the Terrible. The temple keeps the memory of the baptist of the Murom land and passed through raids, ruin and Soviet desolation.
Prince Constantine and the First Church
According to legend, the wooden church of the Annunciation was built at the end of the XI century by Prince Konstantin Svyatoslavich, the grandson of Yaroslav the Wise. He begged his father Moore to convert the pagans to Christianity. The locals killed his youngest son Michael, but a miraculous sign from the icon of the Mother of God shocked the Muromites — they repented and accepted baptism. In this church, the prince buried his son, and later he and his second son Theodore found rest here. In 1547, their church glorification took place.
Vow of Ivan the Terrible
In July 1552, before the campaign on Kazan, Ivan the Terrible prayed at the tombs of the Murom miracle workers and vowed to build a stone temple in case of victory. Kazan fell, and in 1553 the tsar sent an artel of stonemasons. While digging the foundation, the relics of Prince Constantine and his sons were found — they were transferred to the new cathedral. The king granted the abodes of icons, books, bells and land. From the temple of the XVI century to us reached only the subclet.
The ruin and generosity of Tsvetnov
In 1616, a detachment of Polish pan Lisowski defeated the monastery: the brethren were killed, the cells burned. For almost half a century the monastery lay in ruins. In 1664, Murom merchant Tarasy Tsvetnov allocated funds for the restoration. The cathedral was rebuilt and consecrated on June 28. Tsvetnov installed a clock on the bell tower, gave a richly decorated Gospel, and later he took tonsure here with the name Tikhon.
Architecture
The cathedral is an example.russian. The rectangular volume is completed with a pentagon on high drums with keel-shaped kokoshniks. Windows in two tiers — because of this, the temple seems two-storey. In the middle window of the southern facade is placeddouble-headed. From the west to the cathedral adjoins a tent porch on pear-shaped columns — one of the most picturesque among the preserved porches of the XVII century. The white-stone carved portal of the western entrance may have been the main entrance to the temple of Ivan the Terrible.
Shrines
It’s still in the cathedral.original three-tier iconostasis of 1797It’s the only one not rebuilt in Murom. The main shrines: the relics of the noble princes Constantine, Michael and Theodore; in the crypt rest the relics of St. Basil of Murom and St. Julian. From the era of the Terrible, the royal gates and icons of the Annunciation and Nicholas the Wonderworker were preserved.
Our time.
In 1940, the temple was closed, but in 1942 it was reopened — the only one operating in Murom. In 1945-1946, the future Patriarch Pimen served here. In 1991, monastic life was resumed. The abbot is Archimandrite Kronid (Kozlov).
Charity FundHoly Land.
Russian Temples and Monasteries
